Yahoo earnings: Final (disappointing) thoughts

After covering Yahoo!'s Q2 results yesterday, I was left a little disappointed. True, current CEO and company co-founder Jerry Yang has only been in the top spot for a month or so and the April-June quarter results obviously did not reflect any of Yang's direct effort to turn the company around. Yang still aims to monetize more of the traffic Yahoo! receives as well as find new ways to break into non-traditional advertising areas to increase growth, much like competitor Google has done. Listening to Yahoo! President Sue Decker, I believe she has a firmer grip on the operational logistics than Yang, although Yang seems to be more of a spiritual leader for the company. I was left wondering if this new management combination will work.

Were Yahoo!'s (NASDAQ: YHOO) Q2 results a problem? Not necessarily, although that is the sentiment right now with the stock being hammered about 5% in premarket trading right now. The company matched analyst expectations of $0.11 EPS, but offered very little in guidance for future quarters and said that some of the revenue shift that was expected for the Q3 and Q4 period actually occurred in Q2. In other words, don't expect any stellar quarters this year at all from Yahoo!, even with its Project Panama "making great progress." Hmm.

When Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) releases its quarterly numbers tomorrow, it will blow past analyst expectations if recent history is any sign. This will, again, pressure Yahoo! management team to show that it can be as innovative and make as much cash (from any combination of areas) as its larger competitor, using internet search or anything else. In fact, Yahoo!'s position to see revenues from just as many areas as it can is increasingly important as it won't be taking search market share away from Google any time soon. The question is, can it do it?